Roadmap Review: CDPR edition

 Old meme, I know

The general state of the modern gaming ecosystem does make it more than likely, in our new big releases, that things are going to be messy. It's just the consequence of subscribing to a "Put it out when I'm ready, screw if the game's ready." mentality. But we have a global solution to that little problem, don't we folks? A universal cure all as gimmicky as the Desert Rose and but nowhere near as reliable. I'm of course talking about the humble road map. That moment when the multimillion dollar organisations turns around to you and says "Woah hey, I know I screwed up this time, and god willing I'll do it again the next time you put your trust in me. But damn it, I'll commit to making this right as long as you give me around about a year and keep buying my microtransactions. I'm talking a lot of microtransactions here, I'm looking to retire sometime in the next year or so." And the results of such roadmaps have been... let's be generous and say 50/50. Not in that the content gets delivered, I think we have more examples of that happening than in not happening in the long scheme of things, just that it'll be worth the hype anyway. Most instances we're talking about content that would have been much better served if it was a surprise. (But then how could you mobilise your personal army of defenders to rally behind you like their dignity and honour depends on it?)

Of course, typical Roadmaps exist to do little more than give the graphics department a little project to work on, the promises are basic stuff that can be written in a text document and they sort of need to be subject to change in order to match the flow of development. (No one wants to be married to a bad idea for too long) As such Roadmaps tend to be exceedingly vague for actual discernible information and serve less as the 'promise' which they want it to be perceived as, and more of a hint of the direction things are going. As such, and in relation to CDPR, whilst they have released an honest-to-goodness roadmap for the direction of their entire company in the wake of the Cyberpunk conundrum, that isn't the only string of information I want to look at relating to where the team want to take this game in the near future. For that we have handy leaks, wouldn't ya know, which offer just enough for that juicy rampant speculation. But first, let's look at what CDPR actually wanted everyone to know.

CDPR is a company that has had an oddball work cycle for a decent amount of time now, reports say that at least since the development of the Witcher 3 (which was a long time in the making) people have been perplexed or overworked during the whole project life span. That hasn't changed. They claimed that it would do, but they lied, to themselves and to us. But apparently this time, that's going to change. They promise. (Anyone else feel that deja vu?) "Comfortable" is how they've described it in an official video addressing the evolution of the company over the next year. The want their employees to feel happy, encouraged and "empowered". I find that last point, which is a direct quote, to be very apt as it answers a disgruntled claim that I've heard alot about through others stories; the way in which CDPR management hold a tyrannical reign over ideas and will instantly shut down any and all dissent/other opinions. Bare in mind, of course, that these are the anecdotal tales of former employees so genuine doubt could be drawn regarding their validity, but either way it sounds like an area the team are committing themselves to working on.

 The big stickler, however, the point which has everyone in a tizzy, is the fact that CDPR are announcing actually huge shake-ups to their current plans for the immediate future, representing their determination to make changes now. (Or their proclivity for switching course on a dime to the determent of everyone. Interpret as you will.) For you see, massive changes to the working environment is coming so that by 2022 the team can deploy teams in such a way where they'll be able to develop two AAA games at once. That's right; The Witcher 4 and... Cyberpunk 2? I guess. Both are going to be created at the same time so that they can learn from each other or some such. Not going to lie, my pessimist has the biggest eye-brow raised on this point given that we're talking about a company now reviled for their huge burnout culture and biting off more than they can chew so often they're on the way to developing an eating disorder, and they just announced how they intend to double their own workload. It just makes me grimace a little. But hey, I'm sure they know what they're doing. (Even though recent history has proven that's not true a lot of the time.)

Another big development, and this one did catch me by legitimate surprise; it seems that Cyberpunk might be losing it's multiplayer standalone. (or it's just being heavily reworked, details are confusing right now) CDPR voiced how they are no longer dedicated to making Multiplayer Cyberpunk their next project (likely due to the way they couldn't possible create a breathing and fun multiplayer title based on such a rough foundation) and are instead committing to creating the basis for Multiplayer to be part of all games going forward. What does that even mean? God knows but it sure sounds bad, doesn't it? What, we're supposed to expect them to wrap in some throwaway multiplayer deathmatch to the next Witcher game, same as every single game from the late 2000's? Sounds like textbook wasted development time to me. But I suppose there's nothing for that whole situation except to wait and see.

Right now the heads of the studio are very much in the present, and that means getting Cyberpunk to a workable state. The new patch that launched had some improvements here and there, but it's far cry from what was originally promised and now folks are turning their attentions towards the extended DLC development of Cyberpunk for confirmation that things are, indeed, still on track. This leads us to the recent leak, curtsey of some Epic Store listings, informing folk about several new DLC heading towards Cyberpunk that very much seem, judging by the way they're all priced at 0.00, to be the free DLC that the team have been talking about. Now the whole 'free DLC' thing has been a constant call for praise in relation to CDPR, with people still so shocked by the whole stunt in Witcher 3's lifecycle that they're willing to give CD all the benefits of doubt in it's name, but from my opinion it was simply a cool buff that they did, nothing exactly game changing came from it. There was a new game plus mode, of course, but the rest was just a few alternate outfits, small missions, and just general expansions upon what was already in the game. But people are expecting the world out of Cyberpunk's free DLC suite.

So whilst we sit as uninformed today as we were when the policy was announced, if you want to put stock in rumours and a series of screen shots that seem decently real but who knows these days; (There's not really much evidence they could provide to prove legitimacy anyway) then we have a list of names for these DLC and can extrapolate upon that as we wish. The majority of these DLC share names that seem to hint towards what I was saying, expansions upon systems that are already there, but some promise lies in it too. Ripperdoc Expansion and Fashion Forward Expansions sound pretty ignorable off the bat. There might be some decent new augments introduced, but Cyberpunk dropped the ball on the Ripperdoc system in general so it'll take more than a few new stock items to flesh it out. The Body Shops expansions, however, almost sounds like a brand new prosthetic system in the game which fans were really hoping for in the base game. (Either that or Night City is getting the newest franchise in a chain of English cosmetic skin-care shops)

'Gangs of Night City' could be anything from gang themed cosmetics (which I'll bet it is) to a new bunch of quests. 'Rides of the Dark Future' is literally just the name of one of their Night City wire sections. New cars, great. If only there were more reasons to use new cars. (Like chases) 'Body of Chrome' sort of sounds like more customisation but I think, due to the lack of the 'expansion' suffix, that this actually going to be quest based around the concept of 'chrome'. (A term used to describe purely cosmetic augmentations) 'The Relic' and 'Neck Deep' sound like small quests and 'Night City Expansion' is what has people drooling. They hear something as vague as that and ultimately conclude that it must be the solve all they've been waiting for. "City expansion? Why, that must include the Police rework, the subway reintroduction, the pedestrian AI fix, the Traffic Ai fix and complete reworking of the main story in order to provide greater player choice that we've been expecting." I'd be surprised if that DLC addresses even one of those problems, truth be told. I more think that's just a placeholder title, like probably most of the listings in this leak if we're to take them to be real in the first place. And finally, there are three untitled and placeholder images that seem to be indicating three upcoming paid expansions. (one up on The Witcher's two)

Ultimately, that's what we can expect of Cyberpunk in the rest of this year and CDPR in the years beyond, so the question is whether or not this is what we want to see. A lot of what's being said here is clearly as much to the investors and perspective buyers as it is the internal team and the fans, obviously, (and the DLC plans weren't meant to be seen at all) but we all have something to take away from this. On one hand, there's going to be more CDPR games, although they'll be duo developed and that might just end up making both of them bad. (Worst case scenario, perhaps, but I gotta be the one to ask.) Multiplayer systems are coming to our single player games, but how long until multiplayer-centric monetization sensibilities start to follow suit? We're arguing theocraticals against hypothesis' here, which is to say there is no total answer, but I'd consider this mission statement a critical moment in CDPR's history for the foreseeable. Everything they've talked about is so drastic, that we're either looking at a journey to ruin or a path to apotheosis, and I wonder if they'll even be able to tell which is which before it's too late to change course. Food for thought or idiosyncratic ramblings; you decide.